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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Anybody Got Another Pin?

After going through an inordinate number of pins, I got the pleating done for the valance and the side curtains.

I am using every scrap of a fat quarter of the black and white. I have maybe a piece 1" by 9" left....That can go in the box that is labeled "Scraps too small to do anything with.". It is also called a waste basket...

I did run a basting thread through the top of the ruffles. They will have to be folded over the rails of the canopy and have to be fairly flat. Now I am going through the spray and wait routine. I am going to have to do a bit of piecing on the valence, just as I did on the skirt at the bottom. No worries though. I have just enough. For the side curtains, I did the pleating just the same as I would for window curtains.

The only difference is, I didn't put a wooden stabilizer in the one straight pleat. I do that on regular curtains so that they will hand right.

I use a wood strip that is 1/16" by 1/4" by however long the curtain is. It makes the curtains hang naturally.

For the bed curtains, I didn't do this because The straight pleat will be glued directly to the headboard side post. As for the skirt, I glued on the strips of ribbon at the bottom before pleating.

Someone asked if the hairspray messes up the glue under the ribbon. The answer is no. I have never had anything come loose with the hairspray process.

This part is going to take a while to dry and I have some real life things that have to be done, so I am going to leave the rest of the bed for tomorrow's blog.

Now my only problem is getting Tessie to move so that I can use the hairspray on everything again. I won't say that she is anxious to have this finished, but she is ready to pull out the pins at a moment's notice.

I guess that I am going to have to distract her with something on the iPad. I noticed that "Practical Magic" is one of the "new arrivals". Maybe that will do it..... I have to go spray now.

See you tomorrow.

12 comments:

Minnie Kitchen said...

wow! that's a lot of pins!!

Marisa said...

see if you can get "Bell, Book and Candle" that should distract her for an hour or two

James Stewart is very kissable but then again I've always been boy crazy so that with a grain of salt

Lucille said...

Wow! That's a lot of work, Casey. You're very patient. I have never before seen so many pins used on a project. Isn't it nice of Tessie to want to remove them for you? That should keep her busy and out of mischief for a while!

dalesdreams said...

I know that is a lot of work. It's looking quite good, but, Casey, I'm surprised you don't have one of those pleaters?

Deni said...

Oops I thought it looked blue!lol
it is looking fantastic Casey
You certainly have a lot of patience!

Caseymini said...

Dale, I don't like the pleaters. The pleats are too regular and don't look real to me. I do have one for 1/2" scale, but I don't often use that one because of the uniformity of the pleats.

This method takes about the same length of time, once you learn how to do it.

Deni, I am still thinking of changing the bedspread. The black in that is more of a warm tone and the white isn't as white.

Tessie may end up with two beds...

Merri said...

LOL, Casey..just spray her. She'll get out of the way.

dalesdreams said...

I hear you, Casey. I've got two of the pleaters in two different scales.

I've not been happy with either one. Especially, if the fabric is not cut on the grain, the whole thing goes diagonally.

I've used your method before when I've made my fourth of July bunting. I have it all sketched out on foam core board and use the pins to do it. Tedious, but, worth it. :)

I just haven't had enough nerve to do it with drapes yet, but, I will get there some day.

I'm a huge fan of spray startch. :)

Gemma said...

Hola! Muchas gracias por el tutorial, me ha gustado mucho y esta muy bien explicado. La señora de la clase es muy divertida y lo he pasado muy bien viendo las fotos.
Le puedo pedir un favor?
Puede poner en su blog un traductor Google para poder traducir todo el texto a la vez pues soy una entusiasta seguidora de su blog y asi me seris mas facil. Muchas gracias otra vez por todo. Un saludo

Jollie said...

Pfff what a lot of work... I admire your courage!

Hugs Jollie

Jenya said...

You would love one of those rubber pleaters. You do so much great stuff with fabric - you would get a ton of use out of it. You can also spray with fabric stiffener (I've never used hairspray - maybe it's the same result). :)

Caseymini said...

Knotty, I have one of the rubber pleaters. I never use it. I don't like it. The pleats don't look natural and there are a lot more steps to getting the pleats where I want them. Just my preference. I learned pleating this way from Judee Williamson about thirty years ago. I prefer the natural look in my fabrics.